Indicia-bearing device



1967 J. .1. PHILBIN ETAL 3,354,567

INDICIA'BEARING DEVICE FIGURE I INVENTORS JOHN J.PHILB|N JOHN RALLISATTORNEY Nov. 28, 1967 J. J. PHILBIN ETAL' 3,354,567 INDICIA-BEARINGDEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGURE 3 Filed Dec. 2, 1964 INVENTORS JOHN J.PHILBIN JOHN RALLIS a a/ ATTORNEY United States Patent C) 3,354,567INDICIA-BEARING DEVICE John J. Philbin, Fullerton, and John Rallis, LosAugeles,

Calif., assignors to The General Tire & Rubber Company, a corporation ofOhio Filed Dec. 2, 1964, Ser. No. 415,407 2 Claims. (Cl. 40-125)ABSTRACT OF THE DTSCLOSURE A light-weight durable device, constructed soas to be noninjurious to a person falling against it, is composed of apair of parallelepiped unitary sections of flexible foam sealed Within abreathable plastic cover and permanently joined together and rotatableabout a common border. The ends of the two sections opposite the borderare joined together by a sleeve which permits the device to be placed asan inverted V upon the ground or other flat surface. Means are providedto incorporate a substance such as sand within the sleeve to weigh downthe device. With letters or numerals placed upon the exposed face of thetwo plastic covers the device can be used as a football yardage markeror the like.

This application relates to improved indicia-bearing devices and morespecifically, it is directed to football yard markers having improvedsafety features.

The rules of football require that there be markers every ten yards.Further, the rules require that the markers be set some distance fromthe actual playing surface. Even when this is done, players oftencollide with the markers and there is a possibility that such acollision could result in injury to the player. The type of injury woulddepend upon the material and construction of the marker as well as thetype and direction of impact involved.

It is an object of the present invention to reduce drastically oreliminate entirely any injury which is in whole or in part the result ofcontact with the marker.

Another object of this invention is to provide a storable marker of longservice life. Still another object is to develop an estheticallypleasing and legible yard marker.

The above and further objects and novel features of the invention willappear more fully from the following detailed description when the sameis read in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like partsare numbered alike. It is expressly understood that the drawings are notintended as a definition of the invention but are for the purpose ofillustration only. These objects of the invention are accomplished byuse of the inventive combination involving resilient foam sectionscovered with a wear-resistant plastic material which bears in acontrasting color a number or letter.

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the device in use.

FIG. 2 is a plain top view of the device in an open extended position.

FIG. 3 is a side view taken along lines 33 of FIG- URE 2.

FIG. 4 is a plain top view of the piece used to retain the device inoperative position, and

FIGURE 5 is an end view of the piece shown in FIGURE 4 containing agranular substance.

The device is composed of first and second sections 2 and 4 which arejoined by restricting means 8 so that the angle to which the sections 2and 4 can open is limited. The two sections bear on at least theirrespective outer surfaces 10 and 12 letters, numerals or other indicia14. The respective sections 2 and 4 rotate around an axis depicted bybroken line 99 at the junction point or common point of connection ofthe two sections 2 and 4. The configuration of these sections is usuallyof a square or ice rectangular nature and the thickness is much lessthan the length or width.

'Each section has a cover portion surrounding a resilient foam core. Thecover material may be any of the commonly available plastics, e.g.,polyvinyl chloride or acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, which arewater-proof and weather-resistant and otherwise have properties whichwill withstand the service to which the markers are exposed. Aparticularly good material is polyvinyl chloride.

The resilient foam core 22 and 24 may be of any applicable resilientfoam material, such as foam rubber or polyurethane foam, with the latterbeing preferred. The core may :be unitary or a mass of particles orcrumbs. The unitary form is preferred because of ease of handling,forming and tendency to maintain its shape.

The outer surfaces carry an indica of some type, 14 in FIG. 2, such asnumerals corresponding to the yard lines of a football playing field.Preferably, the indicia is in a contrasting color to the cover material.For example, if the cover is black, the numerals could be either whiteor yellow. A particularly striking effect is obtained when the lettersor numbers are of an irridescent material. The indicia may be afiixed inany of a number of ways. It may be painted, printed, or stencilled usingan appropriate ink or paint, but the preferred method is to aflixseparate pieces consisting of the numerals by heat sealing, elect-ronicwelding or other convenient method.

The cover may be affixed by any appropriate method such as cementing,heat and sealing, or electronic welding. The latter method is preferredbecause of the better bond and ease of fabrication. Care should be takento avoid any sharp corners or edges which could cause a cut or abrasionwhen a player contacted it with any force. The indicia is added eitherbefore or after the cover is applied to the core.

It should be noted that the cover should have a small hole 26 to permitthe escape of air when the device is compressed by, for example, aplayer falling on it.

FIG. 4 depicts the sleeve 8 which retains the device in position. In oneembodiment shown in FIGURE 5, it may be filled with a substance such assand 16 to hold it in place or it can be, if desired, restrained by useof an appropriate anchor device. The sleeve 8 carries on at least oneend one or more means such as snaps 20, enabling it to coact with meanssuch as snaps 20' on the covers to hold the covers in place with respectto the sleeve so that the device is an operative entity.

The foregoing has described an improved safety factor,deterioration-resistant grid marker which is compact and light inweight, which markers may be set up without use of any tools orpretreatment or preparation of any kind for the playing field.

What is claimed is:

1. A self-supporting indicia-bearing device which is readily collapsibleand deformable upon bodily impact comprising first and secondparallelepiped unitary sections of resilient foam material selected fromthe class consisting of foam rubber and polyurethane foam havingapproximately equal dimensions,

(a) each of said sections having a thickness consider ably less than thelength or width thereof (b) each of said parallelepiped sections beingentirely sealed, except for vent holes which permit the escape of airwhen said foam is compressed and permit the re-entry thereof when saidfoam recovers from said compression, within first and second toughplastic covers to provide first and second indicia-bearing elements (0)said first and second indicia-bearing elements being permanently joinedat a common border so as to provide an axis of rotation to permitrotation of at least 3 4 350 of said first and second elements aroundsaid elements comprises aslecvc which is capable of being loadaxis ofrotation ed with a granular substance. (d) means integral to andcoactive with said first and econd indicia-bearing elements forrestricting the References Cited relative rotation between saidindicia-bearing ele- 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS ments to an angle of lessthan 90, and in which said indicia-bearing elements in operativeposition form 2,208,080 7/1940 oierdorfl 40-125 a generally V-shapedstructure which will be self- 2,613,956 10/1952 Encson 281*33 supportingwhen placed on a relatively fiat surface in 2,835,219 5/1958 Back,40'425 a position such that the apex of said structure is dis- 10 posedopposite of said surface.

2. The indicia-bearing device of claim 1 wherein the means integral tosaid first and second indicia-bearing LAWRENCE CHARLES Prlmary Exammer'

1. A SELF-SUPPORTING INDICIA-BEARING DEVICE WHICH IS READILY COLLAPSIBLEAND DEFORMABLE UPON BODILY IMPACT COMPRISING FIRST AND SECONDPARALLELEPIPED UNITARY SECTIONS OF RESILIENT FOAM MATERIAL SELECTED FROMTHE CLASS CONSISTING OF FOAM RUBBER AND POLYURETHANE FOAM HAVINGAPPROXIMATELY EQUAL DIMENSIONS, (A) EACH OF SAID SECTIONS HAVING ATHICKNESS CONSIDERABLY LESS THAN THE LENGTH OF WIDTH THEREOF (B) EACH OFSAID PARALLELEPIPED SECTIONS BEING ENTIRELY SEALED, EXCEPT FOR VENTHOLES WHICH PERMIT THE ESCAPE OF AIR WHEN SAID FOAM IS COMPRESSED ANDPERMIT THE RE-ENTRY THEREOF WHEN SAID FOAM RECOVERS FROM SAIDCOMPRESSION, WITHIN FIRST AND SECOND TOUGH PLASTIC COVERS TO PROVIDEFIRST AND SECOND INDICIA-BEARING ELEMENTS (C) SAID FIRST AND SECONDINDICIA-BEARING ELEMENTS BEING PERMANENTLY JOINED AT A COMMON BORDER SOAS TO PROVIDE AN AXIS OF ROTATION TO PERMIT ROTATION OF AT LEAST 350$ OFSAID FIRST AND SECOND ELEMENTS AROUND SAID AXIS OF ROTATION (D) MEANSINTEGRAL TO AND COACTIVE WITH SAID FIRST AND SECOND INDICIA-BEARINGELEMENTS FOR RESTRICTING THE RELATIVE ROTATION BETWEEN SAIDINDICIA-BEARING ELEMENTS TO AN ANGLE OF LESS THAN 90*, AND IN WHICH SAIDINDICIA-BEARING ELEMENTS IN OPERATIVE POSITION FORM A GENERALLY V-SHAPEDSTRUCTURE WHICH WILL BE SELFSUPPORTING WHEN PLACED ON A RELATIVELY FLATSURFACE IN A POSITION SUCH THAT THE APEX OF SAID STRUCTURE IS DISPOSEDOPPOSITE OF SAID SURFACE.